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Donda’s House Renounces Name To Kim Kardashian & Kanye West

Due to recent events that transpired by Rhymefest and Kim Kardashian-West, Donda’s House will no longer use the name of Kanye’s mother.

Last night was tough to watch for so many reasons (sorry, Houston Rockets), but mainly it was because of the brouhaha between Rhymefest and Kanye West’s wife, Kim Kardashian-West. By now, you should know the story: ‘Fest took to Twitter post-“Duppy Freestyle” to ask Drake for help to fund Donda’s House, a Chicago non-profit organization started by Rhymefest and Kanye in 2011. ‘Fest shared a statement about Kanye’s response to assisting the youth of Chicago and almost immediately received a harsh retort from Kim K. With personal attacks and digs at ‘Fest’s career, Kim K said that she would “take away” Donda’s House and give it to her children to run.

After ‘Fest delivered his return salvo to make it apparent that all he was about was helping the young, the Donda’s House creative director has decided to relinquish the name—as per the West’s wishes—and no longer operate as a non-profit in that capacity. “Due to recent events that have occurred over the last 48 hours, we have decided to no longer use the name Donda’s House, Inc.,” the statement shared via Twitter read. “This has been an incredibly difficult decision but the social media quotes from Kim Kardashian-West, as well as the expressed interest of her family running the organization, has brought us to this decision.”

“Over the last five years we have put our students and community first. We’d like to thank all of our supporters, and we assure you that our hearts have always been with the City of Chicago and we will continue to support youth in our future endeavors. We encourage Kim and Kanye to indeed pick up the baton of service.”

Damn, man, for a community who has been impacted by Donda’s House and its focus on the arts, education, and building a safe space for the Windy City’s young, it is a hard pill to swallow. And albeit, most people would understand the reasoning behind the decision, it is still interesting that 48-hours since there has been no word from Kanye West at all to confirm or deny what’s being said and why he allowed his wife—who had no particular affiliation outside of marriage—come for his former writing party and fellow Chicagoan in that manner.

As of press time, the website for Donda’s House is still down and there has been no other word or statements released by Rhymefest or any of the other members of the board. We here at Okayplayer will continue to follow this situation as it develops. Please read the final statement in full from Donda’s House charity below.